Making smiles possible

To bring our healing journey into focus, we thought we’d spotlight one of the conditions that makes up roughly a third of all cases we treat: cleft lip and palate. This is among the most common congenital conditions worldwide, affecting around 1 in 700 babies.

One of the biggest challenges for these babies is feeding.

Because the cleft makes latching difficult, many of these little ones arrive at Kafika House dehydrated and malnourished.

As part of our pre-operative care, we teach their mamas how to express breastmilk and feed their babies using special bottles.

We supplement this with formula to get them strong and healthy enough for surgery.

Surgery brings about a huge improvement to facial appearance, speech, and overall quality of life. 

Roughly half of the children we treat will  have only a cleft lip, requiring just one surgery.  

For the rest, multiple surgeries are required - one to correct the lip, and another to correct the palate.

Luckily, these surgeries can be performed by Dr Kimaro, a local surgeon at one of our partner hospitals.

Early intervention - ideally before they’re a year old - makes all the difference. 

We work year-round to combat stigma with education, and reach children across the country who can use our help. 

Thanks to these outreach efforts, more mamas are bringing their babies to us soon after birth.

This optimises surgical outcomes, and gives these children the healthy, happy futures they deserve, right from the get-go.